I think it sounds wonderful, and I wish you all the best. owning a bookshop is one of my dreams too.
one small piece of advice is to get a job in an independent bookshop, NOT a chain. I have worked for a chain for two years and have absolutely no idea how to run a small business. chains work in a completely different way from independents, and most of the experience will be useless. for example, chains can subsidise, and so can afford to make mistakes, while independents cannot. just my advice.
I've heard that when it comes to buying and stocking, all decisions for the chain stores are handled by a central office, or even by dedicated buyers. Branch Managers have little or no say in the matter, and sales assistant are unlikely to ever gain any experience in that area.
On the other hand, chain stores have a much higher turnover of staff, and it should therefore be easier to get a job with them in the first place. From what I understand, independents have far fewer vacancies.
I would warn that you likely need to find a niche market in order to do well. If you concentrate on one area that there is a demand for, you can compete with the big guys (I have a friend, cavalorn, who recently sold his Manchester occult bookshop, which was quite successful for many years). There is a great independent sci-fi bookshop in B'ham and I've heard of crime, language, business, and cookery shops all working well down in London. But a generalist bookshop is probably not going to be able to compete in most towns with Blackwells, Borders or even Tescos
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Academic books usually have a lower rate of discount then other books, whearas on a fiction paperback you might get a discount of 45%, many academic books come with only a 25% discount, some are as low as 5% meaning that by the time you have paid for the carriage, the man hours to unpack and shelve them (not to mention any time spent sourcing them and chasing the orders) you don't always make very much money at all, there are reasonably regular occasions where we (I work for a large chain) actually loose money on academic books
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My plan is to open a store within walking distance of the University.
So far, so good.
By taking a look at the course requirements that are posted on-line, I can see exactly which books the students will be required to read that year and then make sure I stock them. I might even be able to find out how many students enrolled for each class that year, and then use that information to figure out the minimum number of books I'll need to buy.Okay, you can do all these things. But you're going to have to sell them for a discount (and you won't get academic texts cheap) to get the students to come to you. Students will go for the best prices (although those tend to be online, so remember, you're not only competing with the campus bookstore
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you could spend years learning the in and outs of the bookselling business. but you won't make enough money to fund your own store by working at one. not unless you're independently wealthy or have some substantial income from another source. if you mentioned that, maybe i missed it. and i agree with a previous poster, here in the us, unless you're in a major urban area and corner a niche market somehow, you will be unable to keep your store's doors open due to any larger chain bookstores in the nearby area. good luck! goodness knows i'd love to do the same!!! :)
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one small piece of advice is to get a job in an independent bookshop, NOT a chain. I have worked for a chain for two years and have absolutely no idea how to run a small business. chains work in a completely different way from independents, and most of the experience will be useless. for example, chains can subsidise, and so can afford to make mistakes, while independents cannot. just my advice.
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On the other hand, chain stores have a much higher turnover of staff, and it should therefore be easier to get a job with them in the first place. From what I understand, independents have far fewer vacancies.
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So far, so good.
By taking a look at the course requirements that are posted on-line, I can see exactly which books the students will be required to read that year and then make sure I stock them. I might even be able to find out how many students enrolled for each class that year, and then use that information to figure out the minimum number of books I'll need to buy.Okay, you can do all these things. But you're going to have to sell them for a discount (and you won't get academic texts cheap) to get the students to come to you. Students will go for the best prices (although those tend to be online, so remember, you're not only competing with the campus bookstore ( ... )
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and i agree with a previous poster, here in the us, unless you're in a major urban area and corner a niche market somehow, you will be unable to keep your store's doors open due to any larger chain bookstores in the nearby area.
good luck! goodness knows i'd love to do the same!!! :)
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